MORRIS – The Grundy Area Vocational Center celebrated its 50th year Thursday with an open house for the public to come see what GAVC does.

Before letting the large crowd into the building, though, GAVC Director Lance Copes said a few words and then introduced two former directors, Donald Kaufman and Joseph Halpert. Kaufman was the first director of GAVC, serving from its opening in 1971 until 1992, and then Halpert took over for him from 1992 until 2004.

“We have our original director here who started in 1971, Mr. Kaufman,” Copes said. “The other director that was able to be here with us tonight is Mr. Halpert. I would be remiss right now if I didn’t take a moment to thank the planning team for this. When you go around the building tonight and see the classrooms, the teachers, students and staff worked very hard to be in this spot. Everyone did a great job and building looks amazing.”

Copes gave a brief history of GAVC.

“Back in 1969, a group of teachers, board members and administrators got together and talked about bringing a career center to Grundy County. I have had the opportunity to look back through some of the older documents. We found minutes when Mr. Kaufman was actually appointed as the secretary of the group. From there, he was chosen to be the first director of GAVC in 1971. The late summer/early fall of 1971, the doors opened. At the time, we had Coal City, Mazon-Verona-Kinsman, Minooka and Morris all in attendance. There were 473 students. In 1983, Gardner-South Wilmington joined the cooperative, and in 1991, with the consolidation of MVK to Seneca, they went a different way. We had an opportunity in 2011, we formed a wonderful partnership where we are working together with WillCo and we are able to bring students from Coal City, Reed-Custer and Wilmington together for programs south of the river.

“Some brief stats: We opened our doors with 473 students. In 2019, we had a record of 770 students in attendance through GAVC. Probably the most exciting thing is, in the 50 years we have been here, we have served over 25,000 students in Grundy County. As Mr. Kaufman pointed out, that’s more than half of the current population. We averaged about 500 students a year in those 50 years.”

Copes then introduced Kaufman.

“I would like to reminisce a little bit,” Kaufman said. “The planning for GAVC really started back in 1968, but by 1970, the schools involved had made the decision to go together, form a cooperative and start GAVC. We were able to acquire about a $600,000 grant from the state. It was matched by about $400,000 by the member schools. A referendum was passed in November of 1970, because there was going to be a new building involved, but no additional tax was involved.

“The contract for the construction was awarded. The first spade of dirt was turned in March of 1971. In August of 1971, we opened. We had a partly completed building. There was one construction bulb hanging in what is now the Law Enforcement program. That was the only light bulb. I remember the electricians walking on top of desks to put in light fixtures and bulbs. There were no shops. The shops weren’t completed until after the first of the year. The first one was in January of 1972, and it was the welding shop, then the auto shop followed that. When you see the beautiful building and programs they have now, it is certainly a pleasure to come back and be asked to be part of this program.”

Next to speak was Joseph Halpert, who came from Gardner-South Wilmington High School to become the director in 1992.

“I came here from Gardner-South Wilmington High School,” he said. “I saw this as a great opportunity for the students. I know everyone is pushing a college education, but I saw what the students were doing. They were really having an opportunity to experience something they wanted to do. At one time, I did a study, and it was something like 60% of the students stayed in the their field or a related field.

“Even if you don’t go on, it’s a good opportunity to find out first before you spend all your time. When you come out of here with certificates and licenses, you jump two years ahead of everybody else and you didn’t have to spend all that money on colleges. I think this is a great opportunity for students, and I really enjoyed it when I was here. Probably the best time that I have had.”

The ceremony ended with Kaufman, Halpert and Copes cutting the ribbon in front of the building and allowing the large crowd to enter the facility and tour the classrooms and shops.